Five of the 10 biggest businesses in America, including the No 1, Apple, which is six times bigger than BHP by market cap, were formed during the working life of the baby boomer generation: Apple in 1976; Microsoft a year earlier; Amazon in 1994; Google in 1998; Facebook in 2004…

Consider the 10 biggest businesses in Australia. The list comprises five banks, a miner, two retailers, a telco and a biotech company. Just putting Macquarie (formed in 1970 out of Hill Samuel) to one side, does this mean that the most recently created big business on the Australian continent (Woolworths) was formed in 1924? Australia has not created a single new truly big business in 100 years. America has created five in 40 years.

Australia once rode to prosperity on a sheep’s back. Now we’re riding on our ancestors’ backs.